Chapter 1: Don't trust strangers
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The first day of school was pure and utter torture.
She had known it would be.
Staring, everyone was staring at her.
She wasn't used to all this attention, this unwanted attention and she blushed furiously.
Usually, no one would've noticed her and she was happy with that.
If only she could walk faster, if only time went by faster, but her legs felt so heavy today, so she could only move slowly, drawing more attention to her and people asked her if her bag wasn't to heavy, if they should help her.
"No, I'm—I-I'm...fine" she replied every time and tears burnt in her eyes. She wasn't the one who needed help, she wasn't the one everyone should be worrying about. She was alive and healthy, wasn't she? Alive.
As predicted, she arrived too late to class for the first time in her life, yet instead of giving her a lecture, the teacher simply smiled pitying at her and continued with his instructions. Would it be like that in every class? Probably. Maybe.
With her pearly white eyes directed at the blackboard, face blank and mind far away, Hinata Hyuuga survived the first day of school.
She heard them whisper things about her as she drags herself to the exit of the school building. How she survived it. Why couldn't they talk about something else? Why not? She wanted to forget, FORGET.
Were Sakura and Karin having those problems too? Were they so uncomfortable with the questions too? Probably not, Hinata thought and sighed crestfallen. They were stronger, stronger than her at least.
More staring as she got into the car her father had sent for her and she held her head down and allowed her long hair to hide her face from view.
Sakura Haruno closed the door and leaned exhausted against the wooden surface and slid to the ground. She had reached her limits. It was hard to keep up the cheerful attitude at school and fooling the others into believing she was fine, she was over the accident, that she moved on.
Not affected, not affected, not affected.
Yeah, right. As if.
She angrily wiped away the tears that desperately wanted to escape her eyes at the thoughts and she picked herself off the floor. She wouldn't cry, not again. She'd done that enough lately. And the others hadn't cried today too.
"Sakura-chan, you're home?" her mother called from the kitchen and somewhere upstairs a boy cheered and practically fell down the stairs and into the arms of his big sister. With a genuine smile, she hugged the child and ruffled his dark pink hair. "Hi, Hayato. Hm, do you smell that? I think Mom is cooking. Come on, why don't we help her?" She took his smaller hand in hers and led the excited Hayato to the kitchen.
This was one of the times she was thankful for having a younger brother, because he was simply excellent at distracting her.
"Mom, I'm home" Karin called and when no one answered, she rolled her eyes, tossed her bag carelessly into a corner and took of her shoes.
Damn, those heels were killing her.
Now, into the kitchen.
The fridge was empty.
Again.
She needed to go grocery shopping today.
Hm. A cup of instant noodle soup stood there on the countertop. Alright. That would do.
The water wasn't boiling yet. Stupid ramen.
Finally.
Not wasting too much time with eating, going up to her room.
She'd forgotten her bag.
She cursed and got it.
Homework.
"Kaaaarin, dear~ Sorry, but we needed to discuss something at work and everything! I hope there was still something left from yesterday? Karin? Where are youuu?"
Stupid woman. "Upstairs" the girl shouted back.
She bit her tongue. Now that woman would come and talk about her life. Like always.
Groaning in annoyance.
"I heard that, young woman! So, how was school? Wasn't it too exhausting? I mean, the doctors said that maybe you should take it easy for a little more—"
"Mom, I'm fine. School was like always. You act as if I'm a little kid."
Quickly locking the door before her mother had a chance to invade her room.
Save.
At first, she'd probably throw a fit about that, but the redhead didn't care, since the screaming would stop eventually and she'd have some peace and quiet again.
An hour later, the teen was done with her school work and her oh so loveable mother was probably out and consoling her friends and getting drunk and she'd forget about buying some food.
Now that there was nothing 'important' to do anymore, Karin didn't know how to keep herself occupied anymore. Lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling was an option, alright, but that wouldn't be entertaining. There was only shit on TV at that time of the day, so that was out of the question. Meeting friends? Nah, Juugo was working at this pet shop and she hated going there.
Urgh. How annoying.
Annoying...that reminded her of...
Armed with a bag of potato chips and the remote, she plopped down on the couch and turn on the television, because that was still better than the alternative.
With a squeal, Hayato flung himself at Sakura and giggled at her surprised expression. "Haha, you didn't expect that, huh?" "Ugh, Ha—ya—get—off-! Heavy-!" the pink-haired girl wheezed out and gently let him down to the ground and he removed his arms from her neck. Hayato pouted for a moment, before his expression turned into one of sheer horror. "Hm, while you're already here...why don't you brush your teeth?" his sister said sweetly.
When she was sure he was gone, she let out a deep breath and started combing through her short, pink hair. Why was this kid so hyperactive at night?
When she was done getting ready for sleep, she dived under the covers, screwed her eyes shut and blocked out any thoughts but SLEEP.
And sleep she did.
What a tiring and miserable day. After school, the whole torture had simply continued. Hinata closed her eyes and wished she were invisible. Her last thought before falling asleep was 'I will grow my fringe longer, no matter if someone protests. No one would be able to see my eyes. Maybe then I'll feel better.'
Her mother was still not home, although work started early for her. "Typical for mom" Karin laughed dryly. "Probably had a drink or two too much." She wrapped the blankets a little tighter around her and tried to stay awake until the head of the family would return.
As the green bear in the army uniform on the TV screen got run over by a transporter, she could no longer keep eyes open.
"What?"
"I said we ran out of white T-shirts, Haruno."
She gasps. "Oh my god, no! How did that happen?"
"We don't know" replies the old man with the top hat and curled mustache and shakes his head. His eyes are closed and one can tell that he is under a lot of pressure. Sakura swallows heavy at that revelation. No more white T-shirts...that is a catastrophe!
"And as you know, the only ones in this world who still have them are the zombies, down in the canalization. I called you here to my office because I want YOU, our top kunoichi, to sneak into their store and steal the shirts. I'm counting on you."
This came so suddenly...yet the female isn't going to let her boss down. After all, taking the mission or not is not her decision. There is no way she could refuse. The world depends on this! She salutes and says "Yes sir! I shall return soon!"
And with that, she storms out of the room, down the corridor and onto the streets. A few pedestrians look at her strangely, but she ignores them as she runs to harbor where her good friend Ino waits for her, wearing a striped shirt and black pants and carrying a baguette under her arm. "Hurry up, Ino! We have to get down to the zombies!" Sakura yells from afar and immediately, the blonde jumps into her small gondola and is ready to take off to the sewers.
Sakura follows and soon, they are at the entry to the underworld, where a newly turned zombie already awaits them. Its skin is still a little rosy, not yet completely grey or green, and the skull of the poor person shows here and there where the skin already rotted away. And it's wearing a white T-shirt, the white so clean and pure, so devoid of dirt that it almost blinds them.
"We're on the right track Sakura! They have the T-shirts!" Ino whispers triumphantly and almost hits Sakura against the head with her paddle.
The water carries the two and their boat through the entrance to the sewers and the girls shiver.
On their way, they encounter more living corpses, their slowly decaying bodies floating on the water surface and their eyes never leaving them.
"So disgusting!" wails the blond-haired girl quietly and bites baguette. If her friend wasn't on a mission right now, she'd agree. Sadly, this is exactly the case and so Sakura tries to remain calm and maintain her professional demeanor. She is a kunoichi for god's sake!
Finally, they spot the door that leads to the secret warehouse where the zombies hide their T-shirts."Ino, wait for me, will you? It won't take long, I promise!" Ino seems unconvinced. After a while, she shrugs and drawls "Al-right. As long as I have something to eat...do whatever you have to do, forehead."
With her ninja skills, the kunoichi succeeds in invading the storage and gapes when she discovers that the large room is in fact empty.
Suddenly, someone calls "Hey, you there!" She looks up and there, sitting on a girder sits a human wearing a long cloak with a high collar, and with dark red hair that falls over one of his eyes. From what she sees, he has a thin face and is pretty skinny and strange black...things stick out of his back.
"Do you, by any chance, know where the white T-shirts are?" she asks the stranger who kind of creeps her out. He answers "No, I don't. But I want to talk to you, Sakura Haruno."
'How does he...?'
The red-haired man jumps down, straightens up and turns on the light. Instantly everything is engulfed in an eerie glow. On her right and on her left, two persons appear, they too glowing so that the Haruno can't make out their faces.
"What is this place?" one figure wonders. "And who's that freak over there?"
"Yeah, I would like to know that too!" Sakura agrees. Freak is a quite adequate description for that guy. His one eye is grey and there are those strange circles in his eyes.
"My name is Nagato" he introduces himself and crosses his arms in front of his chest. "I'm not a freak. I'm a Shinigami."
The person on Sakura's right lets out a shriek and she herself can't deny that this Nagato scares her. The other person (who is apparently female) doesn't seem intimidated. "Oh yeah? Are you here to tell us when we die, or what? Are you an angel or a god of death, Nagato?"
Said redhead shakes his head and glares at the girl. "I am, in fact, a newly turned God of Death. And I would appreciate it if you could keep quiet."
He clears his throat and glances at the three of them. "Your friends died lately, huh?"
"Hell yeah! And that was your fault, wasn't it!" Sakura snaps and clenches her fists. Her two best friends had been killed during a fight with the living dead. She knows it was her carelessness that had led to their deaths, but damn, she needed someone else to blame! Even if it is not very wise to provoke a god.
To her surprise, he only sighs annoyed and otherwise ignores her comment. "I have a...proposal for you. Do you miss your friends?"
They nod.
"Do you want them back?"
Another nod.
"Would you do anything, really anything, to bring them back? No matter what the consequences are?"
They halt for a moment. What is Nagato implying? Is he...Does he want to make their wish come true?
"Anything. I'd do anything" the female on the right declares without any signs of doubt or fear in her voice. Encouraged by that, Sakura too accepts. Only the girl on the left who hasn't said anything so far hesitates. "A-Al-Alright..." she finally manages to say and the pink-haired ninja can hear the smile in her voice.
The Shinigami smiles as well and lets out a loud sigh of relieve. 'How strange...'
"This is perfect. I almost thought you would refuse...then I would have forced you to agree, but still, I think we're all happier that you accepted on your own free will, no?"
"So now you will bring them back?"
"Oh, I wonder, what do I gain from this? You have to do something for me first, before I can do that."
The kunoichi screams "What? Why haven't you told us before?"
"I did" Nagato states. "You said that you would do anything. It's too late to refuse now."
Biting her lip, Sakura glares at the man and curses her carelessness again.
"And what do we have to do?" she questions, her voice trembling pathetically. Nagato replies "I will tell you later."
After that, everything is silent.
"And what about the zombies?"
The god of death blinks in confusion and tilts his head to the side. "Zombies...?" he responds.
"Exactly, the zombies. They probably noticed us by now and I doubt they are happy that we tried to steal their T-shirts" the girl on her right elaborates. Just as she finishes the sentence, the door is ripped open and hundreds of corpses flood into the warehouse. Their screams are drowned out by the moaning of the dead.
She awoke screaming.
What the hell was that? She didn't remember everything, only small bits and pieces, but the memory of the empty eyes and the festering bodies is burnt into her brain.
"It was only a dream, a silly, silly dream, Sakura..." she tried to calm herself down.
After this, she was unable to sleep and as she got out of bed, the small red scar on her right forearm caught her attention. It hadn't been there before.
Under further inspection, she noticed that it looked a little like the Kanji for 'life' or 'birth' and only seconds after that discovery laughed at herself. A scar that looked like a Kanji? That was probably only sleep deprivation messing with her head.
Still, she had a bad feeling about this.
Better than the prolog, I think. Sorry that the dream was so long, but I wanted to make this more realistic. (Another thing in this story that is based on one of my dreams...^^;) So...it'd be really cool if you wrote a review, I really appreciate it, no matter if it's only a short one *-*
For anyone who wondered, Karin didn't go shopping because her mother was out and there was the chance that her mother actually did do the shopping and then they'd have more food than they need or fits in the fridge and then Karin's mother would be angry and blah.